Sometimes, I decide to stop being a rebel. I follow the instructions, pretend OS X and Linux don't exist, and do as I'm told. I decided to take that role, that of someone who just doesn't care about the how or the why, and just wants things to work.

The first thing I did was take a look at the manual. I'm running Vista Business on my sacrificial Windows box. I noticed that the manual only mentioned Windows XP, and didn't I see a "Sync Center" in the control panel? After all, a lot of hardware broke with the update to Vista; no point in installing old, XP-centric drivers and risking breaking my system. I opened up the Sync Center, and saw "Set up sync partnership" as an option. Great! On the iPAQ, in the Bluetooth options, there was the ability to create an "ActiveSync" partnership. Clicking the help link on the Vista machine, I see that ActiveSync has been replaced by the Mobile Device Center on Vista.

I use the Bluetooth control panel to connect to the iPAQ; it works pretty well. According to the Vista help, from the iPAQ, I should be able to create an ActiveSync partnership, and it should show up in the Sync Center.

One of the unexpected features I've found in the HP iPAQ hx2790c is that it has a dedicated button for voice recordings. Given the issues with using the device with one hand, being able to record quick notes by holding a button should be very useful. Unfortunately, the hardware uses a button which is very difficult to press, and the software expects the button to be "push to record", and not a toggle. While recording notes over a 15 minute period, at least a third of my notes were cut short as the button became unpressed.

I do most of my website development work in Firefox, due to the availability of extensions such as Firebug, YSlow, and Tamper. Sometimes, I want to check a page in another browser so I can log in as a different user. This simple Applescript, combined with Quicksilver, allow me to easily open the current Firefox page in Safari:

Update: I found out how to get the battery information in two clicks. Click the Start menu, and click "Today". The Today screen shows some system information, including battery levels. It only shows a percentage, and not an estimate of the time remaining.

Today I borrowed the iPAQ purchased for the ICC lab. After performing a full reset (so I could see the "out of the box" experience), I proceeded to set it up and see what it could do after a few hours of use. So far, the experience has been pretty poor. Here are some of the issues I noticed in the process of connecting to the uog-wifi network and browsing Slashdot:

Slashdot has posted an interview with VIA's "Open Source" representative. Harald Welte has previously worked with gpl-violations.org, giving him some credibility. However, his answers regarding the Chrome9 video chipset show that it's unlikely that Via "gets" the benefits of true open source support: